


Absurd Pop Song Romance

by Thomaddicted



Series: Sterek Valentines Week 2021 [4]
Category: Sterek - Fandom, Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:06:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,936
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29351667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thomaddicted/pseuds/Thomaddicted
Summary: When two gifted songwriters come together to work, you would think they'd be great at communicating their feelings to each other, right?Well, then there's these two guys, able to say anything they want on the matters of love, except to each other.Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?This one has a soundtrack! I promise you, your life will be improved by these songs, at the very least, it will give you context on the tone of the scenes. Click Here for goodness:https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7D6DTYpuDDoX8qxwN7CQtF?si=DCHIbwWeTeGVDrsAmWsHHw
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski
Series: Sterek Valentines Week 2021 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2150535
Comments: 2
Kudos: 20
Collections: Sterek Valentine Week





	Absurd Pop Song Romance

**Author's Note:**

> Fourth in the series for Sterek Valentine Week, 2021
> 
> Prompt: Love Songs  
> Rating: PG13 (Strong Language, Adult situations, Adult Language)

Stiles Stilinski sat at his piano, noodling around with the notes. Up down up down, down up, down up the scale back and forth. 

“Ba ba ba ba ba bah.” Derek Hale echoed the notes softly as they floated through the air, his pencil furiously scribbling on the paper in front of him. 

“And the light… and that light… and this light…” Derek tries different tenses and forms of each line. Eventually, he scribbles across the page. 

Stiles continues to play across the scale of notes he’s been stringing along. Derek crumbles up the sheet of paper he’s been doodling on, after checking to see if anything on there was worth saving. After making sure, he pops a shot off from his desk chair, the wadded up ball of paper sailing through the air in a perfect arc and landing in the overstuffed wastepaper basket in the corner of the office.

Stiles continued to tap out the same few notes over and over again, before pushing away from the upright piano up against the wall. “I need a break.” He declared, rising up from his piano stool and adjusting the fedora on his head. 

Derek leaned back in his chair, balancing so it was on it’s rear two legs. “Getting coffee?” 

Stiles nodded. “Usual order?” He asked Derek. The older man nodded, and Stiles put on his sunglasses and headed out of the door.

Derek looked back out the window to the view outside the window of the house he shared with Stiles. Well, technically, it was Derek’s house, and Stiles just lived here. Technically, Stiles didn’t LIVE there, but Stiles spent a Hell of a lot of time there, and usually crashed on the couch there, and occasionally slept in Derek’s bed, which was fine since it was big enough to fit three people (don’t ask), so Stiles and he could crash there whenever needed. 

That Stiles practically lived there didn’t bother Derek. He’d spent a long time working on his own, and being teamed with Stiles as songwriters for Full Moon Records had been the best thing to happen to him. It’s the reason he had the house. 

Derek was a decent lyricist. Not great, not exceptional, but decent. Stiles was a great multi-instrumentalist, proficient in piano, drums, guitar, and . At best, Derek could play piano, but he wasn’t the best at it, like Stiles. 

Stiles also had this great ability of plugging in the perfect words to Derek’s songs. 

However, it didn't start out that way. 

Ten years ago, Derek Hale went out to hear some up and coming young bands at a showcase, downtown at a club called "The Hole In The Wall", with his sister, Laura.

They saw a few good bands, and a few more not so good ones, and one band that was kinda.... bad, but the songs were actually good. Derek watched as the five guy set performed some terrible Ska covers, and then the singer announced they were doing a new song, and Derek listened, liking the wry, biting lyrics: 

_People talk about Luv luv luv luv luv, And it sounds like: Blah blah blah blah blah, Cause they really mean: Sex sex sex sex, People just want to connect!_

_I believe in love that's true, I'm a sucker just like you, But real love don't stand a chance, in absurd pop song romance_

Derek waited after the show, talking with different people, and ran into the drummer of that band, who introduced himself as Stiles. 

"Stiles?" Derek asked, amused. 

"Stilinski." The lean guy smiled at him, pale skin flushed and coated in sweat, making him shimmer under the lights in the bar. 

"Derek Hale." Derek introduced himself. "Great work tonight. Who wrote that last song?" 

Blushing, Stiles raised his hand. "I did. Not one of my best ones, but the guys actually knew it, so it was easy to play." 

"Nice. I liked it." 

Over the next few months, Derek got to know Stiles, and they traded texts, and before they new it, they'd written a song. 

"I don't think anyone will sing this." Stiles frowned. "Maybe this isn't the right song." 

Derek chuckled. "My sister says she found the right person for this song." 

"Yeah, but it's kinda like... no... it IS an anti-Love song." Stiles said, looking at the lyrics sheet. 

"Hey. It's a good song. Sometimes the right song as to be sung by the right person." Derek said, patting Stiles' shoulder. "Like the right words to the right melody. When everything is perfect, it all comes together." 

Stiles swallowed nervously. 

"Besides," Derek continued. "Don't you think broken hearts not ready to love, but wanting to love, need a song too?" 

Stiles sat at the piano, while Derek did his best to sing the song to the intended customer, Punk Pop star of the moment, Meredith. 

_A conversation once colored by esteem, became dialogue as a diagram of a play for blood. Took a vacation, my palate got clean, now I could taste your agenda while you're spitting your cud_

_And it doesn't make sense, I should fall for the kingcraft of a meritless crown. It doesn't seem right, to take information given at close range, for the gag and the bind and the ammunition round_

_This is not about love, 'Cause I am not in love. In fact I can't stop falling out. Not about love! I am not in love! In fact I can't stop falling out... I miss that stupid ache_

The song opened many a door for them.

It led to the top very quickly. Worldwide Pop Queen Erica Reyes loved that song so much, she drafted them for a song on one of her albums, to be a duet between her, and her powerhouse boyfriend, Rock and R&B King, Boyd. 

"Okay. I may die from this." Derek said, nervously going back and forth between lyrics as Stiles programmed a synth and a drum machine to run in loops. 

"Why?" Stiles grinned. "It's just a song." 

"It's a songs for two pop Titans!" Derek wheezed. "This is like cooking for Gordon Ramsey. One wrong move and we're dead." 

Stiles ran the loops and looked at Derek. "They hired us cause they liked what we did. So all we have to do is be who we are." 

Derek let out a deep sigh. Stiles continued, "You're an amazing songwriter, anyone with ears knows that." 

"You're just being kind." Derek said, looking at Stiles. He really appreciated the younger guy in moments like this, when he was spiraling. "Am I losing my mind?" 

Stiles shook his head. "Look. Let's just play with the lyrics. Whatever works will stick. And don't give me one of your lines about how..." 

"Okay." Derek grinned, defeated. "Okay." 

Tapping the top of the paper, Derek wrote the words, "Love Song", and hoped for the best. 

The song wound up never being released as a single, but the exposure and very good review that Erica and Boyd gave them, rocketed Stiles and Derek to the top of a shortlist as the go to guys for great songs. 

Derek was thrilled. 

Stiles walked into the coffee shop, a block away from the house. It was a trendy little Bohemian spot they often ordered from. Stiles felt stuck, and the best way for him to unstick himself was go for a walk, and grab a coffee. Opening the door, Stiles was greeted with a familiar tune that he remembered writing years ago with Derek. 

_You've opened my soul to happiness and shown me new ways of love. Smooth is life's travels with you beside me, I'll never walk alone_

_Cant get enough of you, when we oooo. Can't get enough of you, when we oooo_

"Can I get one caramel frappe, and one hot caramel macchiato?" Stiles ordered, and paid, then waited for his coffee, flipping through his phone. Pictures of him and Derek were most of the stuff in his camera roll. He had developed such a crush on the older man, and over ten years, it almost had gotten to the point where Stiles didn't know if he was going to be able to bear working with Derek any longer. 

After writing the hit song playing over the speakers, as well as a handful of great songs for the iconic pop goddess, Braeden, Stiles and Derek could write their own ticket, should they choose. So they did, writing songs and recording demos and happily choosing who they worked with whenever they pleased. They even went on vacations together. They weren't just a writing team, they were best friends.

A trip to London had resulted in a fantastic collaboration with British Pop Star Jackson Whittemore, who was just breaking into the big time. They ran into him in a chance encounter in a London record shop. Jackson all but bowed at their feet and begged for a pop song, a crossover hit that would not only be big in the UK, but carry him over to the states. 

They all huddled in Stiles' and Derek's deluxe hotel suite. In 25 minutes, they had a worldwide smash that Jackson delivered with stunning vocal skills.

_I don't need to try and explain, I just hold on tight and if it happens again, I might move so slightly to the arms and the lips and the face and the human cannonball, I need to, I want to_

_Come stand a little bit closer, breathe in and get a bit higher. You'll never know what hit you when I get to you_

_Oh, I want you, I don't know if I need you, But oh, I would die to find out! Oh, I want you, I don't know if I need you, but oh, I would die to find out!_

Stiles loved the song, and was happy it went to a queer artist. He was less happy about the way Jackson seemed to flirt with Derek endlessly through the writing and recording session. Stiles would never admit, but he was happy when they left London, only to feel worse when he got home. He didn't want to ruin their working relationship with his personal feelings. 

Stiles was too afraid to ask Derek how he felt, knowing that Derek had his own ideas on working relationships. 

"Never again." Derek once told him. "I will never date, or fall in love with a collaborator again. It..." Derek paused. "I'm just not doing that." 

They had been writing something that had never materialized for some new rock act that needed a song. It was all for the better, the band they were writing for broke up before they even got their first show played. 

Sometimes, things are just spelled out for you in the universe. 

"STILES." The barista called out. "Coffee order for Stiles?" 

"Here." Stiles says, picking up the order, and leaving. 

The pain of not being able to tell Derek how he felt helped Stiles write. The longing manifested in some great songs. They did a great song for an up and coming queer pop star, Corey Bryant. 

Stiles liked Corey, and could tell that he was going to be a great performer. They sat noodling on the piano, Corey showing Stiles some of what he could do, with Derek feeding them lines now and then. 

Stiles watched as Derek sat in the corner, in his black jeans, and his black shirt, over a black undershirt, and his leather jacket, which Derek liked to wear (Stiles knew but would never tell), when Derek was stressed and feeling a little insecure. 

Stiles tapped out a few notes. "Try this..." He played, as Corey watched. "I love the way you wear that black on black..." 

Corey took over, playing out the melody that Stiles and he had been working on, and the lyrics Derek had been feeding them.

_I love the way you wear that black on black! Oh, I love the way you talk to me like that! With your fingers on my chest, it's heart attack. Oh, I love the way you wear that black on black!_

"It needs another line." Derek said. Stiles nodded. 

"Hurts the music, something needs to go there." 

Derek hemmed and hawed, and Stiles looked at him, singing the chorus back to himself. He stopped at the final line, and at that moment, Derek looked up at him, and their eyes locked. Stiles felt himself flush, and didn't he see a little bit of that heat, that want reflected in Derek's face? Didn't he see what Stiles saw? In Stiles mind, he saw Derek on a hot summer day, so unlike this windy fall night. Stiles saw in his mind's eye, Derek stripping off to jump in the swimming pool, while Stiles tried to ignore that Adonis like body as he tried not to burn in the sun. 

Stiles licked his lips, and wondered what it would be like to be there, next to Derek, kissing him, holding him, taking off that leather jacket.

The closing line of the chorus came quickly.

"Take it off like that" 

Derek was staring out the window. He didn't know he was waiting for Stiles to get back, but he knew that he wanted Stiles to come back. With his coffee, of course, that's what he was waiting for, his coffee. 

It wasn't like he hadn't thought of it, okay? Stiles was really cute, and very sweet and for the ten years they worked together, they had a great time working together. Derek didn't know how to tell Stiles how he felt. Derek reflected on the moment that he thought things might have come to an end for them. It wasn't London, when that needy Jackson Whittemore couldn't stop hanging off of Stiles as they wrote his hit song. That had been rough, because Derek had always thought of Stiles as his (though he knows he shouldn't). It was when the Pop Legend Lydia Martin asked Stiles to write a song for her , but WITHOUT Derek. 

Derek couldn't explain why that hurt so much. He had almost cried, brokenhearted to his sister Laura, but that would only be admitting his weakness for Stiles. Only Derek didn't want to admit that, cause then he'd have to admit his feelings for Stiles, and he was sure that Stiles didn't want that. I mean, the way Stiles stared him down that one session they worked with Corey Bryant seemed to answer that. He didn't blame Stiles. Corey was a cute kid, and Stiles and he kinda looked alike, so gay twin boyfriends, Derek guessed. That didn't happen. 

What DID happen was Stiles took the job with Lydia. He never did ask what songs Stiles wrote, but the cash and royalties he earned on it seemed to keep them from wanting anything, ever. 

"So, what did you write about?" Derek asked, as Stiles sat at the piano. Stiles looked at Derek. 

"I just wrote what I knew." Stiles said, biting his lip. "I just... wrote what was in my heart...." In Stiles head, the lyrics replayed over and over, a perfect chorus.

_And everything went from wrong to right, and the stars came out and filled up the sky. The music you were playing really blew my mind... It was love at first sight_

_'Cause, baby, when I heard you for the first time, I knew we were meant to be as one_

"Oh." Derek said, quietly. "Just one song?" 

Stiles shook his head, flushing. "Two, but the other one was so silly, I don't think anyone would ever play it. Just some silly pop song I put together on keys and synth." 

Derek chuckled a laugh he didn't feel. "Good lyrics?" 

"Hardly." Stiles chuckled. "The chorus was literally 'La La LA, La La La LA LA'. No one's gonna play that on the radio." 

Derek did laugh at that. "Well, it's catchy. Can't get it out of my head." 

Things started to mend again, and one day, Stiles got a call from his old band mates. They had reformed with a new female singer, and ask Stiles if he could do them a solid, which, sure. 

"Theo and Liam were really good guys, and this new girl they have, Hayden, is a good singer, so I'm thinking..." 

Stiles played an almost jaunty tune. 

"Sounds a little upbeat for what they do." Derek said, genuinely loving the tune. 

"So, the lyrics don't have to match the tune. You can have a bright melodic line with a dark lyric." 

"So what's the song?" Derek asked. "Another love song?" 

Stiles shook his head. "How about if they don't wind up together? That happens too... other people come in. Other problems, they can't talk about." 

Derek felt uneasy. He grabbed his pen and pad, sat on the couch, and started to scribble as Stiles played the tune over and over. 

Stiles played over and over, and suddenly blurted out, "I knew a boy who would not share his bike.. oh, but he let me go sailing"

Derek snickered and wrote it down. Stiles played the rhythm over and over, Derek thought of their 8 years together to that point. 

"I swore that I could survive any storm... Oh then he let me go" 

Stiles stopped immediately. 

"What?" Derek asked. 

"What if he doesn't want to let you go?" Stiles blurted out. 

"You're the one that wanted to go dark." 

Stiles pursed his lips. Derek frowned. 

"It's not like this is about you." Derek said, regretting the words almost instantly. 

Stiles said nothing but continued to play through bridge after bridge. Derek laced words through the notes, thinking exactly of Stiles, Stiles and him, of a summer that felt so perfect, even if they weren't together...

"All that summer, we traveled the world... Never leaving his own back garden. Girls, I didn't know just what it could be... Oh, but he let me go sailing..." 

Stiles stopped playing. 

"I have to go." Stiles announced. 

"Okay." Derek replied, feeling defeated, not knowing what to say. "What about the song?" 

"I'll figure it out. I already know how to finish your sentences." Stiles said, shouldering on his jacket. "Goodbye." 

Derek looked at the door as it swung closed behind Stiles. He didn't know that Stiles intended that word to be the last. 

Stiles walked up to the house, holding the coffee. He was humming through a lyric that had popped into his head. It was Derek's lyric. Stiles just kinda worked on the thing. 

Stepping up the walkway, Stiles remembers when he almost left Derek for good. Left the partnership, that is. Maybe Derek as well. Stiles heart ached. 

"What do you mean, you haven't seen him in a month?!" Stiles' best friend, Scott McCall is almost white with shock. "You guys broke up?" 

"We weren't together." Stiles replied with disdain. "That's the problem, we were never together, we just worked together, wrote together, planned together, took vacations and writing trips together, I live with him when I'm not crashing on your couch..." 

Scott rolled his eyes. "You're together. Has he tried to date anyone since you guys have worked together?" 

"No." Stiles grumbled. 

"Has he put you first in his life?" 

"All the time." Stiles bit his lip. 

"He trusts you, he respects you. Stiles. The man loves you." 

Stiles shook his head. "No. Not possible." 

"Stiles." Scott gently hugged his best friend. "Have you tried just talking to him?" 

Stiles knew that talking wouldn't work. Talking with meaning never came easy to Stiles. "It's why I write songs." Stiles confessed to Derek once. "Cause, I don't know how to say it, any other way." 

Stiles showed up at Derek's with his guitar. Derek looked like he hadn't slept in ages. 

"Derek." Stiles' voice was raspy. He wasn't sure he could do this, but he sure as Hell was going to try. Seated on Derek's bed, Stiles sat. Derek had been in there writing, books full of scribbled lyrics, lit candles everywhere, flickering softly. "Now or never." Stiles thought, and began to play. 

_I turned around too late to see the fallen star, I fell asleep and never saw the sun go down, I took your love for granted... Thought luck was always on my side. I turned around too late and you were gone_

_So give me one more chance, Darlin' if you care for me... Let me win your love, 'Cause you were always there for me... If you care for me... Be there for me_

_I like to play the queen of hearts and never thought I'd lose, I rolled the dice but never showed my hand, I planned it out so perfectly So you'd never leave a guy like me... I was a fool, but now I understand_

_So give me one more chance, Darlin' if you care for me... Let me win your love, 'Cause you were always there for me... If you care for me, Be there for me_

_Here is the law of the land... You play with fire and you'll get burned! Here is the lesson I've learned... That you don't know what you've got til it's gone_

Derek leaned over, and kissed Stiles. Stiles pulled Derek in closer. 

"I'm sorry." Stiles whispered. "I'm sorry I never..." 

"Shhh...." Derek whispered back. "It's okay... It's okay..." 

"I love you." Stiles' voice is soft and scared. 

"I love you too." Derek repeated. 

"We wasted so much time." Stiles lamented. 

"We still have time... Stiles... please say we still do..." 

Stiles nodded. "We do." 

"Okay." Stiles said, walking in with the coffee. "I think I've got it." 

Derek took his coffee, kissed Stiles, and grinned. "I think I've got the lyrics." 

"What did you write about?" Stiles asked, picking up his guitar. 

"Just what was in my heart." Derek said. 

Stiles began to pluck the guitar strings. He started on the lyrics, waiting for Derek to counter every other line. 

"Sitting on the floor and talking till dawn"

Derek responded, "Candles and confidences"

"Trading old beliefs and humming old songs"

Derek smiled, "And lowering old defenses"

They sang together, "Singing a Love song-- La la la la la la la la la la, Love song-- La la la la"

Derek picked up the lead, "Private little jokes and silly pet names"

Stiles grinned, "Lavender soap and lotions"

Derek blushed at the grin, "All of the cliches and all of the games"

Stiles replied, "And all of the strange emotions"

They sang in unison again, voices a little shaky, but happy. :Singing a Love song-- La la la la la la la la la la Love song-- La la la la la

"They say the whole is greater, than the sum of the parts it's made of. Well if it's true of anything... It's true of love"

"So who gets this song?" Stiles asks. 

"We do." Derek smiles. "We do, Stiles." 

The wedding is a grand affair. Pop star and Rock and Roll royalty toast the two songwriters. Everyone eats, sings, and dances. 

Stiles and Derek dance their first dance to one of their favorite love songs, a lyric they both believed, deeply.

_Somewhere, between the bitter and the sweet is the balance that most seek. But with you, I am way up off the ground, yet so deep I can’t speak._

_It’s the newness of the sun, when a day has just begun, and the innocence of life, I wanna take this journey twice,_

_There ain’t no one else in this world, with whom I would rise, cuz I wanna spend my life with you._


End file.
